Losing Something Journals!
by Hasselhoff
Summary: In Progress... Eight Chapters from all the characters of the losing something series POV.
1. Alexis aka Lexie

**Authors Note-** So this is the final sequel to my story "Losing Something!" It is like the stories epilogue, it includes Journal entries from all of the Carters...More like a day in the life of each of the Characters! Read and Review tell me what you think, and if you want you can tell me which Kid you think I should write about next. Here's Alexis Point of View...Oh and a big shout out to my buddy who helps me with all the comments...Abby Lockhart 2! check out her stories they rock!   
  
**Summary-** Ten years later what has happened to the Carter family... Read on and you will find out.  
  
**Alexis:**  
  
Being a girl in a boys world can be tough sometimes, and today is one of those sometimes. I have four brothers, all of whom are older then me. They think they have to protect me, I don't know why I don't need protection from anyone or thing. It all started when a boy pushed me because I would not go on a date with him. Boys are so stupid. Then I took my locker door and smashed it into his face. Hard. My brothers, well the two that attend my junior high with me, Mason and Zachary saw what happened with him pushing me, me hurting him and then him trying to punch me that they attacked him, well at least tried before Mr. Vender my teacher came out into the hall. I am now sitting in the principals office, with Garrett the boy who pushed me sitting next to me. Garrett looks grumpy and pissed off, as am I! Our parents have been called in, his are in there now mine...well mom and dad work a lot so they may never make it here which is probably best. I told the principal what happened he just sighed looked over at Garrett who denied it all, well of course he would why would he admit to that? The principal then sent us out here and told us that he would be calling our parents in. I have never had my parents called into school, so I am very nervous as you can imagine.   
  
I fiddle with the worn out material on the chair, looking around nervously my gaze meets Garrett's, he stares at me then turns his head rolling his eyes. I do the same. I hear noises coming from the hall and I can tell its my parents the way they are bickering. They always bicker when they are worried. I am surprised that both of them managed to come, usually one of them is working. They walk into the office and immediately go to the secretary, who tells them quietly that Mr. Collins the principal will see them momentarily. They nod and look over to see my sitting in the chair. I smile innocently. Mom looks upset, I get up to go see them when Mr. Collins walks out of his office with Garrett's parents in tow. I immediately sit back down, as Garrett straightens out.   
  
Mr. Collins clears his throat then starts speaking in his boorish, monotone voice. "Hello, I assume you are Alexis parents." He says extending his hand to my father.   
  
"Yes, sorry we are late, but we were both called into a trauma case at work." My father explains. Mr. Collins does not seem to take this as a good excuse.   
  
"Well sometimes our children must come before work matters don't you agree?" My dad looks pissed off and taken aback by this comment. I guess what I forgot to mention is that I go to a prestigious private school, so my principal is actually my head master. I just refer to him as my principal because my brother Logan, my favourite brother, goes to public school and he has a principal so I have gotten use to the term. My dad clears his throat and tugs at his tie, as my mother puts her hand on his arm to tell him to let it go.   
  
"Well, I guess I will have to fill you in on why you are here. Or all seven of us could go into my office and your daughter could explain to you why you are here." He says rudely. Mr. Collins does not like my family, Logan and he had a bad past. Now he hates me too, but lucky for me I have managed to avoid speaking to him, well before now. I know Mr. Collins expects I am just going to cave into Garrett's side of the story saying I lied. But I am not going to, because I did not lie. Garrett is loved by Mr. Collins he is a 'good boy.' Yeah right! I take a seat in-between my mom and dad. I start to fiddle with the newer felt on these chairs but my mother whacks my hand away.   
  
"Well Alexis, would you like to start?" He prompts me. I sit up straight and look at my parents and then Mr. Collins avoiding Garrett and his parents at all costs.   
  
"I um- well I was at my locker getting my books for history, when Garrett came up behind me and asked me if I would like to be his girlfriend. I said no, as I always do-"   
  
"As you always do?" Mr. Collins interrupted.   
  
"Yeah-" I start then correct my self as Mr. Collins clears his throat. "Yes, he always asks me out and I have told him on numerous occasions that I don't like him or want to be his girlfriend. I told my brothers Mason and Zac that he was bothering me and they told me that if he ever did it again they would deal with him. I didn't want them to get involved and get in trouble. So when he was bothering me today I firmly said no and please stop bothering me. He grabbed my arm and I tried to shrug him off me but his friends surrounded me and made fun of me calling me a prude-"   
  
"What friends?" Mr. Collins interrupts again.  
  
"Peter and Martin. And then Garrett pushed me, his friends laughed. He came up close to me like he was going to kiss me, and I didn't want his nasty germ filled mouth near mine, so I took my locker door and flung it at him, that's when he screamed. My brothers have class that period near my locker they walked by and saw what happened they were about to hit him when Mr. vender walked out." I sat up straight in my chair looking at my parents, my mom looked appalled, dad looked like he was about to leap out of his seat to beat Garrett up. Mom grabbed his hand and they interlocked fingers.   
  
"Well, that's a nice story Alexis, but that's not how Garrett tells it." My dad looked at Mr. Collins sternly.   
  
"I hear that you and your brothers have been picking on Garrett." I roll my eyes and cross my arms, sighing loudly and noticeably. "Do you have something to say about that Ms. Carter?" I move my body closer to the edge of my chair, take another deep breath and begin.   
  
"yeah, I do! That's a load of shit and you know it. Your letting a girl be sexually harassed because you don't like her brother well fu-"   
  
"Alexis Abigail Zoe Wycenzki Carter, watch what you say!" My mother scolds.   
  
"I don't know what you are trying to accuse my children of Mr. Collins but I can assure you that neither Mason, Zac or Lexie would do something like that." My mom continued.   
  
"Well that is fine that you believe your children, but I do not so she has a week suspension and I will be informing the boys of their week detention." He said slamming the folder closed on the desk. My dad looked angry, he has a pretty good temper but right now I can see hate in his eyes.   
  
"Mr. Collins, We are going to take this school to court and sue your ass. Let's go." He said rising from his seat. My followed his grabbing onto my arm signalling for me to follow. We got out into the hall and boy was dad steamed. "I can not believe they would accuse them of that. That bastard kid touching my daughter, I'll kill him." I don't remember my dad every being so mad. Even during fights between him and mom he was never like this.   
  
"Come on Lexie get your stuff we are going home." My mom gently told me. I'm glad one of them had their composure somewhat in tact.   
  
"Abby, I don't want my kids in that system any more." My dad shouted. I was now sitting in the computer room doing my homework.   
  
"John what do you want to do take them out now?" She said a little calmer then dad, but not much.  
  
"Yes! It is only November." He whined.  
  
"Fine...All four of them?" She emphasised the word all and the number four. Even though Logan was out of the private school system Jeremy had stayed. "Okay, we'll sign Jeremy up to Logan's school and Lexie, Zac and Mason up to Division public school. I couldn't hear what my dad said after that, but now I could tell they were hugging. It's like their thing they fight then hug. Weird if you ask me. Dad never ends up sleeping on the couch, I'll know something is up when he does sleep on the couch. I leave the computer room much happier then I entered it.   
  
"You know don't you?" Mom asked pulling out of my dad's embrace. I nodded happily. She pulled me into a hug my dad rubbing my back. I love my parents. They are the best!   
  
"So The other kids are coming too?" I smile.   
  
"Yeah." my dad says happily. They both seemed pleased with the new decision.   
  
"So I get to go to Colby's school?" I beam.  
  
"Oh god we're putting her in Colby's school!" My dad jokes.  
  
"Shut up dad." I holler at him as I run up the stairs to call Colby, my best friend since well ever. I love Colby he is the best friend ever. He is Luka and Sam's son, they are my parents friends and they always joke around that Colby and I will get married. They wish.  
  
"So? What did you guys think?" Mom asks as we drive down the street.   
  
"It was way better then that prep shit you have us in now!" Zac responded.  
  
"Zac, watch your mouth." Mom scolds. We just finished seeing our new school, its an elementary school that goes from grades one to eight, there are only two classes and since there are three of us two of us will have to be in the same class. Great! I hope I am in Colby's class he was so excited when he found out that I am going to be going to his school. Mom's phone goes off,   
  
"Hello?"   
  
"It's work!" Mason states. Probably, work always calls her in. I hate it. My parents are never home, they are always at work. My mom hangs up her phone and sure enough we take the road that leads us to the hospital.   
  
"Oh come on mom we were suppose to have lunch." I whine. She rests her hand on my leg squeezing it then continues to drive.   
  
Finally we get here, now all I have to do is hang out in the lounge for three hours with my brothers. FUN! We all slowly follow mom who is speeding ahead into the hospital. When we get to the door we see dad. "Hey kids." He says rustling Zac's hair.   
  
"Dad when do we get to leave?" I whine again.   
  
"When mom and I are done." He smiles happily. Sometimes my parents disgust me they are so in love. I know it took them awhile to be at the place in their lives where everything was perfect. They got married about six years ago. The wedding was so much fun, like an all night party. They kissed a lot that night though. A child should never have to see her parents kiss. I see dad walk up to mom and place a hand on her back, she smiles at him. They are crazy.   
  
"Hey Lexie." Colby says sitting beside me. He has short dark brown hair, but he usually wears a hat. He has the same deep brown eyes as his dad. Girls fall all over him, even at thirteen its so funny. I just think of him as my best friend. He use to tease me as a kid because of my red hair, boys can be so stupid. I am small like my mom, he is big like his dad. It is funny every boy in my family is tall but Jeremy, Jeremy is five foot six, he's so little. I smile at Colby who nudges me. We both watch my parents talk about a patient, they are happy together even when they are talking about some guy getting a bowel resection. Seriously they are nasty.   
  
I look over a Colby, who looks upset, "What's wrong?" He shakes his head a little.  
  
"I think my parents are going to get a divorce." he sighs. I don't believe it his parents are so happy all the time, they are just like my par-  
  
"Come on Colby that's crazy your parents are so happy." I say not sure if I am trying to reassure him or myself.   
  
"No its not, I mean they act all happy, but they argue a lot when they think no one is around." He explains, this is the same with my parents.   
  
"Cole-" I start, but he gets up and leaves me. Maybe this was more of a listening situation. As selfish as this sounds I am now concerned about my parents getting a divorce.   
  
I stare at my mom and dad, dad is handing her a chart and she is flipping through it not really listening to anything he is saying. He kisses her on the forehead as he tells her he will take us home, she doesn't really respond. I stare in disbelief my mom never acts like this towards dad usually she hugs him or says goodbye or something. I bet it was this whole school fight thing that pushed them over the top, its all my fault. Dad walks over to us, with a sudden smile on his face he ushers us out of the hospital.   
  
"Hey guys lets go back to the house get Jeremy and Logan then go out for dinner." He suggests.   
  
"I'm up for that." Zac pipes up.  
  
"Me too." Mason adds.  
  
"Not me, I just want to go home." I grumble. Dad looks over at me questioningly. I just shrug him off and pick up my pace towards his jeep. He got it a few years ago, he said he had an old one like it, he loves jeeps. What a weirdo. We also have a van and a car, my mom has her Rav 4. Logan and Jeremy are trying to get the car and the van for when they get their licenses.   
  
I can feel dads gaze on me as I hop into the front seat. Mason and Zac pile into the back talking about some video game or sports event or something trivial like that. They have no idea that our parents are about to divorce they don't see the signs that I do. Boys are so stupid.   
  
We pull into the driveway and I get out of the car as quickly as possible marching up to the front door, dad seems confused by my state. Mason and Zac just give me a weird look. I am surprised they even notice, they never notice anything. "Okay, well Lexie, we are going out to dinner like it or not, so go do what you have to do." My dad orders.   
  
I walk up the stairs and bump into Logan on the way. "Where we going kid?" He says with a big smile. He thinks his smile can get him places in life. All the girls like him, he has curly blond hair that is somewhat out of control. He's tall, almost six feet and funny.   
  
"Out to dinner." I say bitterly as I push by him.   
  
"Why so angry?" He says chasing me up the stairs.  
  
"Its nothing." I march into my bedroom, discarding my jacket on the floor and sifting through my closet for something more comfortable to wear.   
  
"Its never nothing with you." He sits on my bed flipping through one of my teen magazines.   
  
"Okay but you can't tell anyone." I say sitting beside him.  
  
"Okay." He nods.   
  
"Mom and dad are getting a divorce." The minute the words leave my mouth he starts laughing.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Colby says he thinks his parents are going to. And his parents have been acting the same way our parents do. They fight when they think we are not around, when dad kissed mom today she acted like he wasn't even there. They never spend time just the two of them." I am getting a little worked up now.  
  
"Lexie, they never spend time together because they don't have time."  
  
"I know but, they never even spend nights together, I mean when was the last time they both slept the WHOLE night together." I said emphasising the word whole.  
  
"I don't know...They probably spend time at work, you know meet up in an empty exam room and have sex." Logan joked.   
  
"Ew, that's gross." I said getting up to change. He left the room laughing. My parents don't have sex, yuck I mean I know I want them to be together but not like that.   
  
I walk down the stairs, and They are all waiting for me at the door. "Dad..." Logan starts as I get my shoes on. "You and mom have sex in empty exam rooms right?" I can not believe he just said that. See if there is one thing everyone should know about my brother, is that he says what he is thinking, however mean, embarrassing or nice it is. I look at my dad and my brothers who are laughing, dad looks embarrassed and also a bit taken a back.   
  
"Uh-" Dad tries to explain.  
  
"No worries dad you can tell us over dinner." Logan says pushing by us all to get out the door.   
  
"Where's dad?" I ask as I approach our table. I made a quick stop at the washroom  
  
"Outside...On the phone, go get him I want to order." Zac instructs me. I reluctantly go outside. He is on the sidewalk talking on his phone, he didn't hear me come out and keeps talking.   
  
"Your son just asked me if we have sex in empty exam rooms." My dad chuckles. I know its my mom. The good thing about cell phones is that they are really loud, so I can vaguely hear mom on the other end. I am a couple feet away from dad but he has his back turned to me.   
  
"No? which one?" She asks.  
  
"Who do you think? Logan." He sighs. "Lexie has been acting really weird too, I wonder what is up with her." He states. I can hear my mom asks him forcefully if he has asked me why I am acting weird. "No I haven't" He retorts.   
  
"Well why not?" She pushes.   
  
"Abby, I don't know I will ask her." I don't know why they are getting all huffy about this subject its not that big of a deal, me acting weird, they can discuss things without getting into heated discussions. Dad hangs up angrily and turns to me standing there.   
  
"Hey..." He says softly.   
  
"Hi." I respond quietly.   
  
"Are you guys fighting?" I asks shyly.   
  
"Nah, you know your mom and me" he says light heartedly.  
  
"Yeah I do." I turn and walk into the restaurant he follows. I can feel the tears burning my eyes, the weird thing is I am very emotional, although many people in my family are not. Well dad can be at times. He certainly does not hide his emotions well he doesn't hide them a lot. 


	2. Logan

Authors Note- Okay so this is journal entry number two. I was not sure which character I should write about this time so I chose Logan because Lexie talked about him her littel journal lol. Um the twins are 16 and the triplets 13!   
  
Logan:   
  
I walk out into the hall... "Hey mom." I say wiping the 'sleepies' from my eyes.   
  
"Hey Logan" She walks over and places a kiss on my cheek. She must of just got home from work.   
  
"You just get in?" I ask.  
  
"Yeah." She smiles weakly obviously tired. "Where's your father?" She asks rustling my 'out of control curls' as Lexie would say.   
  
"Uh- I don't know." I answer truthfully.   
  
"How's Lexie?" She asks concerned.   
  
"Good I think."   
  
"I can't believe he didn't talk to her about her problem." She sighs. I smile at her. I am more sympathetic in the morning when I don't really know what is going on because I am so out of it.   
  
"Mom, why don't you talk to her then?" I suggest.  
  
"Because, I think your father should deal with her problem. He's not very good at reading women you know that?"  
  
"So that's where I get it from." I crack.  
  
"Go get ready for school." She orders.   
  
I walk down the stairs showered and looking pretty. I hear mom talking to everyone. "Lexie we are having a family meeting tonight so you can air out all your concerns." She smiles at my dad. I make my normal loud, energetic entrance.   
  
"Good Morning Ladies." They all turn. Today is the others first day at their new schools. Lucky for me I don't have to switch. Jeremy is not in any of my classes which is lucky, we don't have the same lunch either.   
  
"Logan eat your breakfast." Dad says pointing to the cereal box. I grab it and dump some in my bowl. I look at Lexie who gives me a look. She thinks they are getting divorced still. I don't know why. I decide to break the ice.   
  
"Dad, Mom how's the relationship?" They give me a weird look. I just have to reassure my little sister that everything will be okay. Dad sits down beside me with a bowl of cereal.   
  
"Logan what are you talking about?" He says pouring some milk on his cereal.   
  
"I think he wants to know about the exam room sex." Zac cracks.   
  
"Please spare us the details." Jeremy jumps in with a disgusted look on his face.  
  
"There is no exam room sex, only sex on your bed Logan." My mom adds. I feel very sick now and get up from the table.   
  
"Where are you going?" My dad calls after me.   
  
"To change my bed with Jeremy's." I say running up the stairs.  
  
"NO YOU DON'T!" I hear him pound up behind me laughing. We walk towards our bedroom together, I can tell he's nervous about his first day at school.   
  
"Man, don't worry about school you'll be fine. You have your popular brother to hang out with." He smiles at me. Jeremy is the shortest member of the family, well other then Lexie, I'd say he is about 5 foot 8, who actually knows though. He has short brown hair and spikes it up, and the brown eyes, he looks like dad but he is shorter. He likes the idea of wearing a hat to school which he never got to at his other school.  
  
"Boys get your stuff your dad is going to drive you to school." Mom shouts at us.   
  
"So uh- Friday? My place?"  
  
"Yeah, sounds good." Chrissie says walking away waving at me. Yeah she's my girlfriend. Not my first though, but the only one I really like. We have been dating for about a month and a half, my longest relationship ever. I just whipped right through those private school girls.   
  
I shut my locker, off to find Jeremy and then catch the bus. I can't wait till tonight its when Lexie will actually find out that our parents are not getting a divorce. They say we're having a family meeting. The first one in like a month. I hate family meeting, what are we the Brady bunch? I walk onto the bus and Jer is already there sitting with some girl. Figures. He blows off his own flesh and blood for a chick. I plop down in the seat in front of them, I swing my body around so I am facing them and smile. Widely.   
  
"Hey Jer, Jer's friend." I look at Jer, and he rolls his eyes at me.   
  
"Danny this is my brother Logan, Logan, Danny." He says flapping his hand from her to me and vice versa.   
  
"Nice to meet you." I say extending my hand to her.   
  
"You to." She giggles.  
  
"Danny is in my history class." Jeremy explains.   
  
"Really? Well I'm having my 'girlfriend' over for dinner friday night and I am sure Jer would love if you were there too!" I lie. He scrunches up his face into an angry ball. She looks at me her eyes widen and a smile plays across her lips. She quickly turns her head towards Jeremy, who changes his expression to a big smile.   
  
"Really?" She beams.  
  
"Uh- yeah sure." He stammers.   
  
"I will warn you though, my parents might leave half way through the dinner." I shrug.  
  
"So your both bringing dates to dinner?" My dad inquires, as we sit at the kitchen table doing our homework.   
  
"That's the plan." I say chewing on my pencil.   
  
"This was not my idea." Jeremy whines. My dad laughs finding this somewhat amusing. Jeremy your six-teen you can date you know?   
  
"I want to date her..." He takes a deep breath. "Just not here. With you or mom." He says scratching his forehead. My dad looks at me with an amused look on his face.  
  
"Hey, the only reason Chrissie and I are eating here first, is free meal."   
  
"Okay, well I'm sure your mother will be delighted to know that her sons are bringing girls to dinner." My dad gets up from the table and walks to the fridge.  
  
"Dad- family meeting now." Lexie says calmly sticking her head into the kitchen.   
  
"Thanks sweetie." He smiles. She walks away nervous, dad follows some what concerned.   
  
"Here we go..." I say getting up with Jeremy following me.   
  
We walk into the living room, Lexie is sitting upright in a chair. I have no clue why she thinks they are getting a divorce, its her crazy girl side coming out, I tell you. Zac is sitting on the couch next to Lexie looking bored. Jeremy sits on the other end of the same couch and I squish myself in-between them, while Mason jumps on the arm of Lexies chair. Dad and mom sit on the love seat together. Mom smiles warmly at all of us, while dad just waits to get this meeting over with.   
  
"Okay Lexie you start." Mom instructs. Lexie looks up a little shocked that she is chosen to speak first. I wonder why she is the one who has been having the big problem lately. She shies away from the opportunity.   
  
"I'll go." I volunteer.   
  
"You have a problem?" Zac asks looking at me.  
  
"Yeah of course." I answer.  
  
"No- he meant aside from the obvious ones." Mason cracks.   
  
"Your a jokester Mas. Yes I would like to know why you two," I say pointing at my parents. "Don't spend more time together. I mean are you really in love or are you just staying together for our sake." I say in my weird sarcastic manner that gets a small laugh out of Zac before mom shoots him a knowing look.   
  
"Where do you get this stuff?" Jeremy asks.   
  
"Okay- Logan, the answer to your questions are we spend all our time running after you kids or working, we don't have time for alone time." He says sadly. "And yes we really are in love, we just need to spend some more time just us." He says still sad.   
  
"There is not going to be a divorce, we love each other and living together." Mom added. "Any other questions?" Dad asks.  
  
"Yeah how's the exam room sex?" Zac added.   
  
"Zachary- go do something useful." Mom cringes. We all laughed at her then rose to do 'something useful.' Lexie stayed in the chair smiling, as dad planted a kiss on moms forehead. I walked around the couch to get to her chair.   
  
"See I told you they're fine." She smiled, turned around and hugged me.   
  
"Thanks Loggy." I pulled away giving her the death stare.   
  
"No!" She laughed. "Don't call me that." Mom and Dad looked up at us.   
  
"Oh Abby, our twins have invited a few ladies to dinner." Dad said.  
  
"Really?"   
  
"Yeah, you know...I figure its okay that you guys meet Chrissie."  
  
"Hey dad did you know that Danny swore a vow of abstinence." Jeremy announced proudly, as we ate our Friday night dinner. Colby joined us, as always.   
  
"Yeah." She said quite shyly. "Its a church thing!" She chewed her food and kept her eyes on her plate.   
  
"Our parents swore a vow of abstinence." I offered up shoving more chicken into my mouth.   
  
"You did?" Mason laughed. All eyes went directly to my red faced parents.   
  
"Oh- wait abstinence would require being married before having five kids. Right just got a little confused there." I joked.   
  
"Logan- do you not respect anyone?" Lexie spits at me.   
  
"Some people." I say smiling at Chrissie.  
  
"You'll have to pardon my brothers behaviour." Jeremy told Danny. I laughed as mom shot me a dirty look.   
  
"So, you guys weren't married for any of your children's birth?" Danny pushed.   
  
"They were engaged for ours!" Mason exclaimed.   
  
"Really?"   
  
"Yeah, during our pregnancy, then mom went into a coma for three years." Zac said rolling his eyes.   
  
"We- uh we were engaged a while before we married. But we loved our kids despite of it." My dad explained. Danny looked somewhat okay with this answer.   
  
"Oh- are you planning on having any more kids?" Chrissie pressed.  
  
"NO!" They answered in unison.  
  
"Five is enough. I would want another girl if I had any more kids though." She sighs.   
  
"Me too." Dad smiles. Aw.A happy family, Alexis is finally happy now, she's not mopping around because she knows that her parents are not divorcing. Neither are Colby's. They were just fighting a bit, they are in love any dope could have told you that. I watch my family eat, I love it here. Its nice having my brother at my school too, although in a week I may think differently. 


	3. Mason

**Authors Note-** I'm not sure if anyone will remember this fic. I wrote_ Losing Something- Two weeks_ back in Septemeber, and wrote two sequels that followed it. I wanted to finish it off a little differently then other fics had been finished, so I decided to write journals of all the characters. I got through two characters. Other writing projects came along and I sorta neglected this one. Anyways I pulled it out the other day and I decided to write another chapter.   
  
**Mason**

Darkness covers the house, falling into every crevasse and corner. Each blind and drape pulled down to its lowest form. I sneak through the house, unheard, unnoticed. Or at least it appears that way. The floor rattles under my step, I pause for a moment, listening for a sign that the mood has suddenly changed. I reach for the railing of the steep stair case, my feet clunk against the first step, warning me that I better be a bit quieter, if I don't want to wake anyone. Silence engulfs me, sweeping into every room. Gulping I reach for the knob of my bedroom...

"Did you just get in?" Busted. My hand freezes on the cool knob. I stay glued in my spot, my heartbeat throbbing in my ears. I try moving forward, maybe he won't notice. My right foot snakes forward, a firm hand lands on my back before I can go any further. I clench my body, showing fear would be the worst thing I can do right now. They are like dogs they can sense when you are afraid, they sniff you out then attack at your weakest moment. I remain still, I won't speak until he does.

"Well-" I guess he's not going to forget about his question.

"I-I was- I was just..." He turns me around rather forcefully. Thankfully its dark, I don't know if I want to see what he looks like right now. His fingers dig into my shoulder blades causing me to wince.

"Get your ass into our bedroom." Ew, I don't want to go in there, who knows what they've been doing. If I was Logan I would make a comment, but I'm not. I trudge into the bedroom, the door opens loudly. A light is immediately flicked on, there sits my mom chewing on her bottom lip.

"Where have you been?" She hisses. I shake my head, running my fingers over my face. I feel a thud against my back, I fall forward a bit regaining my composure before looking up at my dad.

"Owe." I clutch the spot the best I can. He doesn't seem to care, his face is set into a cold stony look and I get the urge to run like the fucking wind.

"If you know what's best for you, you'll sit down and shut the fuck up." I knew there was a first for everything, but I was just hoping the first time I heard my dad swear it would not be directed at me. I slowly walk over to the chair in the corner of their dimly lit bedroom. I hang my head, slumping into the uncomfortable wicker chair. I link my fingers together, anything to distract myself from the wrath I am about to endure.

"We called all your friends houses, we asked your brother and sister where you were. We searched every where. You have no business being out on a school night till eleven at fucking night, or any night for that matter. Who the hell do you think you are-" My dad bellows, if the whole house wasn't up when this started they sure as hell are now.

"John." My mom admonishes. I don't think she's on my side though. They never are on separate sides, that would be interesting if they were though. "Mason." She starts calmly, but in a matter of seconds her voice rises, her anger and fear now surfacing. "You had no damn business doing that. You scared the shit out of us. We looked every where for you." Yeah, I bet you didn't even notice I was gone until a few hours ago. I shake my head, I hate my family.

"Well?" My dad says, Well what? I wasn't asked any questions, well maybe I was, but I don't remember. I shrug, bringing my gaze up to meet his momentarily. I drop it when I see his blood shot eyes. He's going to kill me. "Are you going to explain yourself or do we have to beat it out of you?"

"We're not beating anything out of anyone, John." She sighs, exasperated as well. "Mason-" The warning in her voice is evident.

"I was at my soccer championships. Which you _should _have known, you said you were going to be there." I stand up running out of the room, I don't care anymore. Its always been this way, I've always been the child that fades into the background, blends in with the grey cement. Something has always gotten in the way, worrying about me has never been their top priority. I've never been good at school, or especially bad, or misbehaved. Nothing to catch their eye, or deserve their attention. I was sort of relishing in the attention I just received. I am assuming they didn't realise I was missing until dinner. When they set the table for seven and only six showed up.

My running turns into a slow jog, I slam the door behind me, turning around the click the lock. I don't want anyone in here. Not now, not ever. I wish they would all just leave me alone. I bury my face into my pillow, sobs slowly escape. I wish they were there. There to see my team win the championship and go on to the state finals. They're is always one child, the middle child. Which I am, and that kid always gets forgotten.

"You're home?" I look up at a sleepy Zac. Great, I woke the devil. I ignore him, I don't want to hear it. He tries so hard to be like Logan, its annoying. Most people think we might be closer than we are, we're twins, well triplets, with Lexie, but we're not close. He's closer with Jer than me. "Mom and dad were pissed when they found out you weren't home for dinner." I knew it. "They were even more upset when they found out they didn't know where the hell you were. You're such a dumb fuck sometimes."

I pick my pillow up from underneath my head and chuck it at him. He screeches at me, oh well, cry baby. A banging on the door brings him out of bed. I grab for his shirt before he can get to the door. He pushes me off, not much of an effort there. The door is soon clicked open, I bury my head in my other pillow.

"Mason." Great, its mom. I don't want to see either of them.

"Go away." I sniffle. She pushes Zac out of the way, moving to sit on my bed. I feel her hand go to my back, I shove it away. I hear her sigh slightly, picking herself off my bed. Thanks a lot mom.

The house is silent, deafening, eerie. Different quite than last night. I make my way down the stairs, my fingers rub over my sleepy eyes. I shuffle down the stairs, almost tripping over my feet. I'm not sure, but I think something's up. Did they forget about me again? I forgot to set my alarm clock, and no one woke me up. Hmmm, something is weird. Really weird, normally I hear them banging around in the bathroom. But I couldn't have been that out, could I? I walk through the kitchen, its relatively clean, but I can see that Logan was trying to make breakfast, he obviously went a little more fancy than his regular pop tarts or cereal. The sun bounces off the shiny, clean tap. I grab a glass out of the cupboard, pouring myself a glass of water. I take a sip, checking the rest of the house for life. Not even the turtle. Logan's turtle. He must have caged the little bastard.

"Hello?" I call out, no answer. Where could they be? They probably went on a family vacation and forgot to bring me. Great I'm the next McCauley Caulkin, that's the last thing I need. The phone brings me out of my reverie. I should have checked the phone, why did I not think of that better. They might have left a message on the machine. Hell this could be them now.

"Hello?" I lunge for the phone in Dad's office, I breathe heavily into the receiver.

"Hello, is Mr. Or Mrs. Carter home?" Great telemarketer. Grr. No clue there.

I head back into the kitchen, flipping the play button on the answering machine. I do have messages. Three new ones. "Hey Abby, John and kids. Its grandma," Oh its Crazy McCrazy. "I'm just calling to see how everyone is, I know one of the boys had their Soccer game last night... Who was it? Oh boy. I can't remember. Give me a second it will come to me. Mason. Mason- That's who it was. Anyways, I hope you won sweetie. I love you all." How is it that Maggie remembers, the woman whose memory is practically gone, hell she can't remember my name, but she can remember my championship game. How can she remember but not my own family?

"Hey Logan this is Chrissie-" Skip that one. I don't need to hear that.

"Mason, when you get this message come down to County. See yah in a bit kiddo." Dad, well he at least called me, sort of.

I'm not really in any hurry to go see them, I check my watch, ten o'clock. I get a day off of school, I think I'm going to milk this for all its worth.

I throw on a pair of jeans, a baggy sweatshirt, and a hat to cover my horrible hair. I decide to take the L. I lock the door on the way out, heading for the stop that is right by the house. Mom and dad hated us taking the L, but lately they have loosened up on it. We have to start being independent eventually. I walk into an empty train, sitting down next to a hot girl. I know I am suppose to be mad at my parents, but I think if I was able to screw this girl, all the anger I had towards them would diminish. She catches me staring at her, my cheeks turn a light crimson colour. She smiles back at me sheepishly. The train comes to an abrupt halt, I realise this is my stop. She doesn't appear to be getting up, damn it. I should ask her for her number, but I really am too nervous. I smile at her one more time, and get off the train. Damn mom and dad, why do you have to work here, if you worked farther I could have stayed with her longer. I bound down the steps, anxious to get this over with. Although I do love going to County. I'm the only one in my family who does, not including my parents, sometimes I wonder though. I want to be a Doctor one day. I'm not really sure why, its the mixture of helping people, and just the amazement I get when I watch my parents in action... No, not that type of action, I've been blessed and never had to see that.

The automatic doors burst open, the bustle of the ER fills my ears. Its more of a home to me than my own home. At least it feels that way. I approach the admit desk, Frank is scarffing down a donut, that man is going to die a brutal death. Cause: A chocolate pastry treat. I never knew donuts could be so evil.

"Hey Frank, do you know where my parents are?" He swallows the last chunk of donut, before answering me.

"Where are the other musketeers." I shrug, school probably. He rolls his eyes, "Try the lounge kid. You keep playing hooky you're gonna end up being one stupid boy." Yeah, well this wasn't my idea. Not that I'm complaining. Never complain when you are given the day off school.

I push into the lounge, medical books are stacked sky high on the counter. Another pile lays on the table. It looks like they are playing pirates, they have forts set up everywhere. Hey this is kind of cool. I look around the room, imagining Luka and my dad participating in a sword fight. I snicker at the thought, causing an unknown sleeper to stir. I peek over the stack of books and see my dad peering back at me sleepily.

"You just get here?" I nod sheepishly. He tosses the blanket off of him, and crumples it into a ball at the end of the couch. "I've been here since three in the morning." He stands up, walking over to the coffee machine, pouring him self a mug of the lukewarm liquid. Bringing it to his lips he cringes a little. "Let's go." He gestures towards the door with his chin.

"Where?" I follow him, watching as he throws a chart into a pile at admit.

"I don't know, where do you feel like going? Ike's?" Sure, why not. He's offering me a free meal. I nod following him into the ambulance bay. The sun hangs in the sky, playing deceitful, making us believe it might actually be a warm spring day. Until the cool air hits us like a ton of bricks.

"Cold." My dad states plainly. Well he's right there. It is cold.

"Yup." I wrap my arms tighter around my body. Taking the L for most of the way here, I didn't really realise how cool it was. He starts off towards the river, I thought we were going to Ike's?

"Where are we going?" I jog a little, trying to match him pace for pace.

"I figured we could talk. You know, man to man?" I nod a little. That's the first time I've been called a man. Usually I'm referred to as a little boy. A boy that knows shit all according to my brothers. Bastards.

"About?" I ask trying to get back on track. He shrugs a little looking out onto the river, a stirring in the water makes it crash against the cement. I look up at him, remembering when I was younger. He would always take care of me, play with me. We were closer, I saw him differently, in a new light. He wasn't just my dad, he was the man I wanted to become. I guess in a way I am becoming him. Overtime things happened, we drifted, the other kids needed his attention more than I did, or more than it appeared that I did. But I did, and I do.

"Anything you want." He sighs, smiling down at me. His hair flies carelessly in the wind, as he runs his chapped fingers through it.

"That's kind of broad don't you think?" He chuckles softly, nodding at me.

"Yeah, yeah I guess." We walk in silence, listening to the soft puttering of the water. A few children run by, their rambles filling our ears for a short period of time. "Look Mason," He stars, bringing me out of my dreaming state. "I'm sorry... I screwed up." He sighs. "I never wanted to be that dad."

"That dad?" I ask puzzled. What kind of dad is he talking about? The kind that misses their kids soccer game because they didn't want to go? Or the kind that just forgot? Forgot about the game, and their kid.

"_My _dad." Oh. Dad never says much about Grandpa, I know they aren't close. I'm not exactly sure about the specifics, but I know that dad doesn't know where he places in dad's life... I kind of psycho analyse people from time to time. "After Bobby..." He pauses, taking a deep breath, preparing to repeat a tale I can tell he hasn't repeated in a few years. "When my brother died, well things changed. Everything changed. My relationship with my parents, mainly. We grew apart. I know over the past few years, with Logan, and work and Lexi and her drama even, not too mention what the hell the other two get themselves into. Anyways, I know that that has happened to you and I... I don't want it too. We use to be close, remember when you were little?" He asks wistfully. Memories suddenly flood my mind. Dad taking me to the park, piggy back rides, hide and seek, cookies before dinner, hiding moms shoes... I just wish I knew what happened to that.

"Yeah." I sigh, he probably wonders too.

"I love you, Mason." I look up at him for a moment, our eyes locking. "And I don't want to loose you, I fear you're slipping away from us already. You're only thirteen and we talk less and less everyday." He pulls me closer to him, grabbing me loosely by the neck. Soon I am being shoved into his chest, pulled into an awkward hug. I wrap my arms around my dad, a fluttering feeling takes over my stomach. He still cares.

"Hey." We both look over to see mom, I wave at her, wiping away a tear that is threatening to fall. She pulls me into a hug placing a kiss on my cheek, dad's hand rests on my back. "I'm so sorry Mason." Cupping my face with her hands she kisses me on the nose.

"Its okay mom," I smile. Really, its okay.

The three of us walk off down the river, stopping for a cup of coffee for them, a hot dog for me. Mom and dad's hands clasped together, laughter rings through the air. Is this what its like to be cared about again? Do they finally realise that maybe I'm worth their attention just as much as the others? I don't know, but I know I miss them, I've missed them so much. Having my parents back, well its the greatest feeling in the world right now. I can't help but smile, I can't help but wonder if things will always be like this. Even if they aren't, even if things change so drastically that I don't know who I am, don't know where I am going. I know that they will find a moment to comfort me, bring me back here, back to a place that a feel comfortable. A place that its only me and my parents.


End file.
